Sport Rocketry

Are you a TARC team member looking for a new challenge? Are you a TARC men- tor who wants to get in on the fun? e international S2/P event is a great way to do just that, and possibly win a prestigious Federation Aeronautique medal in the pro- cess! Like TARC, S2/P is an egglo contest with precision altitude and duration tar- gets. ink "metric TARC" and you'll get the right idea. If you're not familiar with TARC, let's start with some background. One of the National Association of Rocketry's great- est successes has undoubtedly been the creation of e American Rocketry Chal- lenge, a nationwide engineering contest for grades 6-12 conducted in partnership with the Aerospace Industries Association. Tens of thousands of young people have experi- enced model rocketry for the first time via TARC since the program launched in 2003, with many of the participants going on to rewarding careers in the worlds of science, technology, engineering, and math. e contest is tough, as competing teams must design a rocket to lo a fragile egg payload, hitting both specific altitude and flight du- ration targets. e altitude and time tar- gets shi a bit each year to keep the par- ticipants on their toes, as do the number of eggs required. e success of e American Rocketry Challenge inspired event creator (and for- mer NAR President) Trip Barber to forge a similar event that could be flown within the existing competition framework of FAI international competition. e resulting event is called "S2/P" in the arcane patois of the FAI. e "S" indicates that it is a Spac- emodeling event, "2" tags it as a payload event (an egg, just like TARC), and the "P" is due to the dual precision altitude and du- ration targets. S2/P has a target altitude of 300 meters (that's a bit more than 984 feet, for the metrically challenged) and a tar- get duration of 60 seconds. Unlike TARC, the S2/P event is flow in a series of three rounds, recording the altitude and dura- tion data aer each flight. Once the third flight is complete the payload compart- ment is opened to check the condition of the egg. Like TARC, a broken egg knocks the entrant out of the running. In a further contrast to the TARC ex- perience, the S2/P event is contested by individuals, with up to four competitors representing each country. Aer the fly- ing is complete then individual scores for each country's individual competitors are added up for a team score. Medals are then awarded to the top individual participants as well as the top national teams. (ere are no awards for the surviving eggs.) If you are a TARC competitor or men- tor, there's a great opportunity to leverage the reams of data collected for test flights over the years. ose practice attempts that went too high or exceeded the target duration for TARC may have been ideal S2/P flights, and a discarded TARC design may be perfect candidate for the Interna- tional contest. e S2/P class has been offered as a demonstration event at World Champi- onships since 2014, but will be elevated to official World Championships status for next year's event in Texas. Separate Senior and Junior classes will be contested, which means that eight US competitors will have the opportunity to represent their country. To earn a spot on the US Team, you'll need to take part in the Team Selection Flyoffs taking place at NARAM this summer. Dust off that old TARC data spreadsheet, fire up your design and simulation app, build a new model, and come join the Flyoffs fun in Springfield, Missouri, this July! For more information on the World Championships and the US Team Selection event, visit the event website at: nar.org/championships 46 MAY/JUNE 2022 SPORT ROCKETRY FAI S World Championships for Space Models National Association of Rocketry Bg 4 Boost Glider 3 Parachute Pd 5 Scale Altitude Sa 6 Streamer Sd 7 Scale S 8 Rocket Glider Rc 9 Gyrocopter Hd 79 Gold Au 47 Silver Ag 29 Bronze Cu USA-Texas 2023 Eg 2 Precision TARC at the World Championships

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